The same can be said of the Rockets, they are a Play In team yet they made a trade for Adams next year. You could pick players from the Buy Out market I guess......some names are still decent.
I would not have seen Drummond play lots of minutes on a Thunder team to be honest with you....... Not seeing that many options as well.
What in the world are you talking about? OKC can compete for a championship THIS YEAR. They are in no way comparable to the Rockets. They have one very well-known flaw they could have easily afforded to address, at minimum, on a short term basis.
I do not see the championship, hold your horses.....competing yes.....but SGA is never going to get all the calls the gets in the Playoffs. They are good ... make a run at 2nd round or WCF but they lack experience as a team....you need to get your butts kicked to get better.... Sorry, that is how it usually works. I doubt Presti is really after short term answers. We get a fun Thunder team that can challenge anyone in the Playoffs. Small ball is one of their weapons.
Why couldnt they compete for a title this year? This is an open year of no real dominant teams. Is anyone really scared of the Cavs & Knicks in the East? Growth can happen, but setbacks can happen next year too. They already lost Chet an entire year to injury. Could be another Josh Giddey off-court dumb thing happening. What do the Celtics have to show for getting their butts kicked every year? I'm sure they'd have appreciated 1 more player to put them over the top than all the losing "teaching moments". Even they had sure thing coach Udoka get dismissed for out of nowhere stuff and had to regroup. I'm guessing old OKC thought they'd have Durant forever too.
They have a radical approach to small ball where they let the SG/SF play SF.....to space the floor..... My approach was more trade based than let's say real games. I did not say they cannot but they were not going all out to get a Kyle Kuzma, Caruso or a big rebounder etc......they are keeping their assets.
They are within striking distance this year and have near-infinite trade assets. Getting a rebounder to selectively plug into the rotation when needed wouldn't have cost that much. Chet is the only legit C on their roster and he's barely over 200 lbs. They get regularly bulldozed on the offensive glass and lose very winnable games specifically for that reason. I'm sure Presti has his reasons for not addressing this but yours aren't very good.
Yeah but their problem is team rebounding long term and an individual rebounder like Drummond is not moving any needle..... But Hayward could be ........a good scorer off the bench, they pry on efficiency and that is one of the reasons there are going to be fewer rebounds. They are playing an SG or SF as PF is by pure design and volition.....they try to play small ball outside of Chet. If it works, then your theory of having a traditional rebounder, also said nothing much..... It feels like you are still grappling at this, I am much further ahead, I am thinking how their small ball can possibly stage an upset .... Whether my points are good or not, they did not get a rebounder by deadline and that is fact.
That is just worthless and the longer they hold onto those picks the more they will have to get rid of them on the cheap because teams know they are not drafting that many players for themselves
Maybe there is a blockbuster move...... I mean it is not that hard actually to kick the can down the road. Sharing the Wealth was how the NBA was come to be.
Depends on where they and a potential trading partner is salary wise when they do get ready to pull the trigger. After this summer if a team is above the cap by a certain threshold they can't trade their star player without getting a player that makes equal salary (can't aggregate) so getting a player now even of ot was for their salary would have been huge
Superstar in the market? No one will be able to beat their offer, they are setup to dominate the future.
they are setup to dominate the future I think Sam Presti is a great GM and I love their roster going forward, but this has been said about OKC previously and they haven't won a single championship.
I never said they are guaranteed to win the championship, but they will dominate for years at the least. Even the best teams don't win championships in the NBA at times.
